My buddy Dahmer and I set out at 8 knowing that it was going to be quite hot. We were not disappointed as it quickly warmed up and afternoon temps nearly reached 90. From the gate on Shoemaker we followed the road for about a mile until the not so obvious left hand turn at the three stakes and from there it was up, up, up and then down and then up and then down.....you get the picture. It's a mini-Iron of sorts, which dominates the view to the East the entire time. We kept a decent pace and topped out after 3 hours which we were pretty pleased with. After a brief stop in the shade (of which there is very little) we began the decent. As with most of the Front peaks, I would almost rather re-climb them than deal with the decent. Loose scree and sand dominate a steep 4 miles back to the road. Usually good with balance, I had one complete yardsale on the way down. No sliding or anything, just an all out, mailing it in half gainer on the ass. Fortunately all I have to show for it is a scratched and brused arm.
We were decending on auto-pilot, quickly, wanting to get out of the heat when we came around a bend in the chaparral and ran right into an aggressive rattler. Likely recently awakened and hungry he wasn't backing down and it took some time to make our way around the critter. Clearly more 'alert' this slowed our pace considerably the remainder of the way, the trail is quite narrow and overgrown which made us happy to see Shoemaker road and were back at the car in 6 hours roundtrip. The Dahmer, intimately familiar with NorCal trekking wasn't figuring on 8 miles taking that long
oh but it did. Just about 3500' gain, including a couple climbs on the way out for good measure.Although it was hot, views were nice. It's a good peak to help you tie together Sheep Mountain and the Angeles National Forest areas....while also admiring the remoteness of Iron and others in the area. It's amazing to see how much snow the north side of Baldy has lost in the last two weeks since I was on Baden Powell. As temps soared we swore we could see the melting. With summer around the corner this probably isn't a super desireable peak. It is a nice challenge though, but best to stay alert as April/May are peak for rattler run ins.
